


Fallen Interlude

by swv



Category: Blink-182
Genre: Bank Robbery, Possibly Unrequited Love, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 23:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10581597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swv/pseuds/swv
Summary: Mark and Tom is about to cash the check given to them to film their music video when they are faced with the worst of situations.





	

**Author's Note:**

> If you have experienced, or know someone who experienced a robbery, you may be triggered by this story. Read on with caution. You have been warned.

It had been a fun idea from the start, they were gonna film their new music video and all they had to do was to go into the bank, cash the check and start spending some money for the camera. He had already talked into the camera about what they were gonna do outside of another bank but when they had entered the bank it had been so full that they had decided to search for a different one. 

The camera wasn’t allowed into the new bank but that hadn’t messed with their plans significantly, the camera team had taken a break outside the bank, a bit down the street by the van, and Travis had stayed behind to catch some sleep. He and Tom on the other hand had wanted to see the money as soon as possible. It was like an acknowledgement of their success. With shit eating grins they had entered the bank and taken a queue ticket.

It had been nothing special, they had talked about what they were gonna do that day and how awesome it was gonna be. He had been fascinated with Tom’s playful facial expression as they had talked; a feeling of excitement to be sharing this time alone with him had started to grow inside him. It had been going on for some time now and he was careful to not label it, not to acknowledge it.

And then it happened.

First thing they heard was a man shouting something. An unfamiliar sting pierced him as Tom turn and look. It was probably just someone acting out anyway. But people started screaming and Tom tackled him to the ground. He was gonna protest when the man was heard again. A woman was screaming, someone else was crying. He could make out words now.

“I said everybody on the ground, now! And nobody move!”

“What the-” Tom put a hand over his mouth and carefully shook his head. He looked at his younger friend and was shocked; he’d never seen Tom that scared before. His dark eyes were big and frightened, his lips pressed together and his jaw wound tight.

On his way to the floor he had hit his nose on Tom’s shoulder and now he was trying to breathe through the blood that was pouring from his nose. It didn’t help that Tom was lying on top of him, almost crushing his ribcage, or that he hadn’t removed the hand covering his mouth.

Tom leaned in, whispering in his ear. “Robbery.”

The puffed word sent chills from where they touched his skin on his neck and down his spine and all he could think was how stupid it all was. They were gonna have a fun day filming, doing fun stuff. He had been looking forward to letting the doves out of their cages, and now they couldn’t. And what if they died here? It was so fucking far from okay.

“Everybody stay still and nobody gets hurt!” A voice shouted. “Hands out of your pockets!”

“Don’t say anything stupid now, okay?” He nodded and after Tom looked into his eyes another time he removed the hand keeping him quiet. He took a shaking breath and looked away, it was so fucking uncomfortable with all of Tom’s weight on him and the cold stone floor under him. And, you know, the fact that they were so close to one another. Tom mustn’t have noticed though as he stayed where he was.

“Can you roll off me?”

Tom glanced around him and then shook his head, they had been standing close to a wall when this had happened and apart from the wall to the side there was nothing to hide their movements from the robbers.

“Look over my shoulder, tell me what they’re doing?” He leaned in closer, looking down Tom’s back as good as he could. It was hard trying to reach to look over his friend's shoulder considering how his shoulder still was above his face.

Four masked men were standing in the middle of the room, two of them swinging their guns around over the crowd and one pointing his gun towards the cashiers. One man walked over to the security guard.

“Up.” The elder security guard hesitated before complying, making a strained face as his knees creaked as he got up. Someone sobbed in the otherwise silent room and Mark had to close his eyes, burying his face against his friends chest as they heard the cracking of the man’s skull as it collided with the wooden back end of the rifle and the sound of him hitting the floor.

“Fuck.” He heard Tom curse under his breath and he felt his friend cradle his head closer towards him. “How bad is it?”

“Four of them; different guns, something that looked like an automatic rifle, two with pistols and some strange medium sized gun with a long magazine.” He dropped his head down on the floor again, thinking of all the shoes walking there everyday and everything they had stepped in. Now the dirt was transferred to his slightly styled hair.

“Hey.” It was Tom above him and the tried to focus on his eyes but somehow everything was blurry. Toms hand gave his cheek a couple of rather soft and reassuring pats. “Hey you, it’s all gonna be okay, a minute has already passed. It usually don’t take longer than three minutes and then it’s over, kay?”

He nodded and sighed, but of course that freak knew so much about robberies. Like, what didn’t he know stuff about? Lifting himself up a bit he tried to look over Tom’s shoulder again. The security guard was lying in a pool of blood, most of the people were just lying in the middle of the room. The masked men started spreading out, one of them walking over to the cashiers, and one started saying something to the other customers, rounding them up against the wall where Mark and Tom was lying.

A man walked up to them and Mark stared up into his cold gray eyes. “This is not a fucking hotel, get against the wall.”

Tom didn’t move over him and he could see the man standing over them frown down on them while he cocked the pistol in his hand, bending down and pressing the barrel against Toms head. The gun was black and frightening, the eye staring back at him and making a cold sweat spread over his skin.

Tom carefully got up on all fours over Mark, their eyes met and he could see how terrified Tom was in that moment. One wrong movement and he would have Tom’s brains over his face. Mark bit his lip and crawled out from under him, sitting up against the wall and feeling Tom rest next to him.

He felt a hand grab his arm and he glanced over at Tom, seeing him look down in his lap. He looked scared and young, but at the same time so fucking calm. Guess it’s all relative as his own heart was about to break out of his chest. Tom’s hand glided down his arm and took his hand, squeezing it. A flood of emotions threatened to spill over and he reluctantly admitted to himself that maybe his feelings towards his friend was more than previously stated. But fuck if he was gonna fuck up their friendship over something like this. Instead he looked back over towards the gunmen, pushing back his conflicting feelings as well as he could.

He could see two of the robbers handing over big bags to the cashiers, having them empty the cash machines while another one was standing with a gray haired man over at a big door. The bankman, maybe some kind of supervisor, seemed to be close to a nervous breakdown and he was shaking so bad. Mark wondered if the grayhaired man was married? If he was thinking of his family in that moment? The man with the rifle, he recognized him as the same one that had hit the security guard, pointed his rifle against the bankman as he tried to get the door open.

“It’s gonna end badly if that man can’t get that vault open for them.” Tom mused next to him, so silently that only he could hear him. He looked at his friend and their eyes met again, Tom smiled a thin smile at him and squeezed his hand. “Two minutes have passed.” A click was heard through the room and Tom’s smile got a bit brighter as Mark realized that it was the vault door opening.

And then something, something that just couldn’t happen, happened. A woman started screaming and everyone looked over at her. Was she having a nervous breakdown? The man looking over the costumers was soon at the woman and pointed his gun against her head but she just wouldn’t stop screaming. The robber looked over at one of the other masked men before shooting her in the head. The gunshot was ringing in Marks ears; everything sounded loud but still muted, like he was under water.

At the same time as the woman started screaming the grayhaired man took the opportunity to try to get the weapon from his assailant. The man with the rifle, however, was the one who got control over the rifle and the gray haired man fell to the floor. A red stain growing on his stomach. Mark realized what must have happened but couldn’t remembering hearing the shot and he started to feel numb, like this wasn’t happening to him.

“The clock has started.” Tom mumbled and pulled Mark closer to himself. He couldn’t react, barely heard his friend as he felt himself lose the battle over his emotions and all he could do to hold on to his sanity was to hide his face against his friend’s shoulder and breathe in deep. He couldn’t think of anything and a happiness over that Tom was there with him flooded him. The dead woman could just as easily have been him if he had to go through this alone.

Tom was swearing under his breath, long harangues to himself about how everything was going to hell. “Don’t look at it, just close your eyes until this is all over, kay?” He tried to nod and to breathe again but wasn’t sure he managed either. It was hard.

He could hear every breath taken in the big room, every pant and sob. It almost felt like he could hear every heartbeat. At the same time he felt so disconnected, like he was floating under the ceiling and with a thick glass wall between him and everything that happened in the bank. Hearing everything and seeing everything but completely unable to do anything.

“How much longer?” Tom didn’t answer him and he looked up at him, saw him looking at the robbers with a frown. “Tom?” His friend just pulled him tighter with the arm slung over his shoulders.

And then he could hear it too, everyone else seemed to hear it as well. A wave of relief spread through the masses as they could hear the sirens of police cars coming closer. He hugged Tom, but he just looked down at him and silently shook his head. Ice spread through his heart as he saw his friends devastated face.

The robbers had heard it too and Mark could see them get skittish, three of them started gesticulating and pointing their guns at them, they said something as well but it seemed like a foreign language to Mark. Tom was suddenly standing up and pulled him up to his feet and he saw the others do the same. They were being pushed towards the vault under orders shouted over them and at gun point.

“Get in!” One of the gunmen took hold of one man's shoulder and pushed a bag against his chest. “Start packing the bag!”

Mark saw the man take the bag and started filling it with bills.

“Help him!” The robber shouted at the rest of them.

Others started to pick up money, reluctantly Mark did as well. He just was too scared to refuse but his hands was shaking so much that he barely could grab the money. Soon the bag was filled however and the robber grabbed it while another started closing the door on them, locking them into the vault.

As soon as the door clicked closed Tom pulled him close to his chest hand held him closely. He could feel Tom's sweat blend with his own on their skin. “Is it over?”

Tom didn’t answer, just held him tighter and all he could do was to hold on and breath in as best as he could. Would the oxygen run out before someone found them?

A man started to move next to them and he could feel Tom stir. “Don’t touch the door!”

“But they’re gone.” He looked a bit nervous. “Right?”

Tom let go of him as he walked over to the other man and Mark felt a humorless smile spread over his face as he saw how Tom towered over the other man, making him seem so small. “And there’s probably a shit load of cops on the other side of that door, ready to shoot anything that moves.” He looked around the room before looking at the man again. “Let’s just sit down and wait for them, ‘kay?”

The man looked pale, all of us probably looked pale, at Tom’s words. Every single one of them remembering the two people who got shot in the room outside and the security guard who was probably dead as well.

Tom pulled Mark to him and sat them down at the door, he looked like some sort of herding dog watching over his herd, skittish little lambs that were ready to flee at any moment.

He held him closer and for the first time since this surreal thing happened Mark started to notice how protective Tom was, it was the most astonishing thing how he was ready to protect him with his life. He turned to Tom and caught his eyes, smiling at him, the only thanks Mark knew he could offer at the moment.

~~~

I don’t know how long we waited before someone opened the door to the vault, letting us out. Travis was there, and the crew, but the rest is kind of a blur. Travis was in full mom mode, fussing around us but I just felt so distant from it all.

The next thing I remember clearly is that I’m sitting in a couch at my apartment with Tom, while Travis went out to buy us beer. As far as I can remember he hadn’t talked much since the incident. Tom seemed far off, distant. As if he was reliving every moment of the assault over and over. I think I was reacting more nonchalantly, or I was in denial. My mind was quite occupied as it was already with all these new feelings. Instead I talked about everything and anything, keeping it out of my mind.

“How do you feel?” Tom interrupted me in one of my harangues, not looking at me.

I felt aversion at the question, just not wanting to talk about it. In that moment I would have answered any question but that one. But it was him asking me and how could I refuse him an answer, especially after everything. I took a long breath and looked at my hands in my lap.

“I’m good, you know, nothing special. Bummer though that the filming is cancelled.” I said, knowing what he really asked about but not being able to talk about it. And the filming was actually occupying my mind quite some after all. His hair hanging over his face made him look so young and fragile, making my heart race. I had to keep looking at my hands, shaking in my lap by only the thought of him, afraid that our eye contact would tell him about all these new feelings that I needed to keep to myself.

He was silent for a long time, like he was considering how to continue. “I’m not.” He finally settled on and I felt so bad. I just wanted to be there for him, but didn’t know how “Fine, I mean. I’m not fine.” I looked at him intently, waiting for him to continue. He rubbed a hand over his face and looked at me with a weak smile. I could feel a shiver run over my back.

“Without sounding extremely gay, man, but I was so scared to lose you today. You’re my best friend.”

My heart clenched and I smiled back weakly. It’s not like I didn’t know how it was already, but it really did hurt to hear him say that. Somewhere inside I felt that just maybe our friendship was fundamentally changed from this moment forward. How was I to look at him the same again, knowing that I wanted him to want me? With all the willpower I could muster I tried to give him a reassuring smile.

“Me too.” I said, giving up on ever telling him of what I was thinking this night. 

He reached over to me and squeezed my shoulder as Travis opened the front door, arriving with the beers.

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic in a while. Comments and constructive criticism is appreciated.
> 
> Thanks to my fantastic, unnamed for now, beta working on this with me for countless of hours!


End file.
